CTVA US Anthology - "Telephone Time" (CBS) Season 1 (Early 1956)

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Hosted by John Nesbitt
 Season 1 (CBS) (Early 1956)
Episode Guide compiled by The Classic TV Archive
with contributions by:
J. Fred MacDonald (www.macfilms.com), Tom Alger, Rina Fox
references:
TV Guide / Library of Congress (telnet://locis.loc.gov)
Internet Movie Database (https://us.imdb.com)
UCLA Film and Television Archive / Writers Guild of America (wga)

 

 ####### Telephone Time #######

######## season 1 1956 #######

###########################

CBS Sun 6:00-6:30pm Eastern

 

1.01 Telephone Time: THE GOLDEN JUNKMAN

08-Apr-1956 CBS Sun

Produced by Jerry Stagg

Written by Donald S. Sanford
Directed by Roy Kellino
Host: John Nesbitt
starring
Lon Chaney Jr. ..... Jules Samenian
Robert Arthur ...... Alex
Corey Allen ........ Philip
Peter Brocco ....... Constantin
Ronald Anton ....... Philip (as a child)
Jimmy Baird ........ Alex (as a child)
Leslie Dennison .... Professor Caudle
Marshall Bradford .. Professor Scott
John Tuggle
Thomas Brown Henry
Synopsis 1:
True story of an Armenian immigrant who overcomes all odds to become

 a wealthy and educated man: after his wife's death, he rears his beloved sons

in old-world simplicity, only to have them turn on him and call him an ignorant peddler.

Hurt, but not discouraged, he begins to educate himself by studying the encyclopedia and

 ultimately returns to college to earn his degree and the respect of his children. [RF]
Synopsis 2:
A hardworking, old-world immigrant raises two sons by himself while becoming

very successful in the junkyard business. His sons attend the best college, but to the

father's dismay, they resent and are embarrassed by his crude style and mannerisms.

 Undaunted, the man sends himself to college and proves to be a brilliant student with

an encyclopedic mind. The family is lovingly reunited when the boys see their

 father for the kind, loving, generous, happy, well-liked man that he has become. [RF]
Synopsis 3:
An immigrant establishes a successful junk business in San Francisco,

 but he loses the respect of his twin sons because of his lack of education and polish.

 So the middle-aged magnate decides to go to college. [RF]

**
* Note there is an unusual pilot of The Golden Junkman which has

 George Tobias in the role that later was played by Lon Chaney Jr.
 

1.02 Telephone Time: MAN WITH A BEARD

15-Apr-1956 CBS Sun

Producer Jerry Stagg

Written by John Nesbitt (Emmy nomination)

Host: John Nesbitt

starring
Walter Coy ....... Joe Palmer
Beverly Washburn ....... Susan
Synopsis:
During the 1800s, a Massachusetts farmer was sentenced to prison for

wearing a beard, defying convention in the town in which he lived.

 

1.03 Telephone Time: CAPTAIN FROM KOPENICK

22-Apr-1956 CBS Sun

Producer Jerry Stagg
Written by Norman Lessing
Based on the story by John Clifford Mortimer
Directed by Laszlo Benedek

Host: John Nesbitt

starring

Emmet Kelly

Synopsis:

Based on a real scandal where a cobbler posing as a captain absconded

 with the treasury of a Berlin suburb in 1906. [RF]

 

1.04 Telephone Time: BORDERS AWAY

 (Away Boarders title "Curtain Time")

29-Apr-1956 CBS Sun

Host: John Nesbitt

starring

Arthur Space

James Dobson

Scotty Beckett

Synopsis 1:

The WW2 story of Captain Dan Gallery.  He convinced his superiors he could

capture a German U-boat.  See the top secret preparation, the planning for

booby traps, and the actual boarding and capturing of the U-505 German submarine.

 This harrowing feat led to the capture of the German code books which helped shorten the war. [TA]

Synopsis 2:
The capture of German submarine U-505, the only German sub ever captured in World War II

—and on display for decades in Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry. [JFM]

 

1.05 Telephone Time: THE MYSTERY OF CASPAR HAUSER

06-May-1956 CBS Sun

Host: John Nesbitt

starring

Connie Gilchrist ... Anna
Henry Daniell ...... Von Feuerbach
John Parrish ....... Warden Hill
Robert Barrat ...... Dr. Graff
Sidney Gordon ...... Hansel
Terrence de Marney.. Burgermeister
Wright King ........ Hans

Michael Landon ...... Caspar

Synopsis:
In 1830, a tortured 17-year-old is found lying on a street in Nuremberg. [RF]

 

1.06 Telephone Time: THE STEPMOTHER

13-May-1956 CBS Sun

Host: John Nesbitt

starring
Frances Karath ..... Elizabeth
James Anderson ..... Tom Lincoln
Rita Lynn .......... Sarah Lincoln
Ronald R. Foster ... Dennis (as Ronald Foster))
Ronnie Lee ......... Abe Lincoln
Susan Whitney ...... Abe's Sister
Synopsis:
Follwing the death of his spouse, Tom Lincoln brings home a new wife.

Young Abe resents his new stepmother, but she slowly wins him over with her kindness. [RF]

 

1.07 Telephone Time: TIME BOMB

20-May-1956 CBS Sun (rerun 02Sep56)

Host: John Nesbitt

starring
Osa Massen
Steven Geray
Synopsis:
A desperate husband races against time to develop a

synthetic insulin for his diabetic wife in Shanghai. [RF]

 

1.08 Telephone Time: EMPEROR NORTON'S BRIDGE

27-May-1956 CBS Sun

(aka Emperor Norton)

Producer Jerry Stagg
Written by Donald S. Sanford
Directed by Roy Kellino
Director of photography Paul Ivano
Editor George Luckenbacher
Host: John Nesbitt
starring
Edgar Stehli
Jan Merlin
Ted De Corsia
Sean McClory
Carleton G. Young
Salvador Baguez
Robert Tafur
Sammee Tong
Robert Bice
Ralph Neff

Synopsis:
San Francisco's most famous eccentric becomes rich during the Gold Rush.

He eventually loses it all, but in the meantime, declares himself

"Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico".

 

1.09 Telephone Time: THE MAN WHO BELIEVED IN FAIRY TALES

03-Jun-1956 CBS Sun

Producer Jerry Stagg
Teleplay by Norman Lessing and Donald S. Sanford
Story by John Nesbitt
Directed by Laszlo Benedek
Director of photography Paul Ivano
Editor George Luckenbacher
Host: John Nesbitt

starring
Robert Middleton ... Heinrich Schliemann
Walter Kingsford ... Papa Schliemann
Kathleen Hughes .... Mrs. Schliemann
John Abbott ........ Russian Assistant
John Mylong
Fred Essler
Stafford Repp
Dan Seymour
Ramsay Hill
Herbert Deans
Synopsis:
Story of Heinrich Schliemann's quest for truth and riches in the myths he read about.

 

1.10 Telephone Time: HARRY IN SEARCH OF HIMSELF

10-Jun-1956 CBS Sun

Host: John Nesbitt

 

1.11 Telephone Time: FELIX THE FOURTH

17-Jun-1956 CBS Sun

Host: John Nesbitt

starring

Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez
Argentina Brunetti
Synopsis:
A Havana, Cuba postman raised his own funds to make the trip to St. Louis

for the 1904 Olympic Games. In New Orleans, on his way to the games,

he loses his money to sharpers. [RF]
 

1.12 Telephone Time: SMITH OF ECUADOR

24-Jun-1956 CBS Sun
Teleplay by Donald S. Sanford
Material by C.M. Nelson
Directed by Lewis Allen
Host: John Nesbitt
starring
Edgar Barrier
Eve Miller
Kenneth Tobey
Martin Garralaga
John Maxwell
Abel Franco
Victor Millan
Alex Montoya
Anna Navarro
George Navarro
Rosa Rey
Mel Welles
Rosa Turich
Synopsis:
The story of an American engineer's rescue work after the earthquake of August 6, 1949 in Ecuador.
Synopsis 2:
In 1949, Harold Smith was building a dam in Rio Verde in Ecuador, a hundred miles south of his headquarters in Quito. After the earthquake, all communication with the dam,
even by radio, was cut off. Smith immediately organized a caravan of heavy equipment to rush to the dam site for rescue work and repairs. Within hours after the disaster
he reached the town of Ambato, hardest hit by the quake. Instead of continuing on to the dam, he organized the work and spent two days getting out the injured and cleaning
up debris. Then he spent another week clearing earthquake blocked roads to the interior. When radio communication with the dam was restored, Smith found that the structure
had not been damaged nor had any Americans been injured. The earthquake killed 4,000 people in Ecuador, 560 of them in Ambato. [RF]
 

1.13 Telephone Time: THE GINGERBREAD MAN

01-Jul-1956 CBS Sun  (rerun 02Jul1957)

Host: John Nesbitt

starring

Barry Truex ........ Captain Hamilton
Celia Lovsky ....... Mama Ludwick
Hugo Haas .......... Christopher

Norbert Schiller

Synopsis:
During the Revolutionary War, a German baker becomes a secret agent

of the Continental Army. He enters British camps as a civilian

and talks to Hessian soldiers. [RF]

 

1.14 Telephone Time: JOYFUL LUNATIC

Hal Roach prod #9581

08-Jul-1956 CBS Sun

Host: John Nesbitt

starring

Alexander Scourby ....... Joseph Priestly

Peggy Converse

Synopsis:

The story of Joseph Priestly, a minister and scientist. He is dismissed by his

congregation because his parishioners do not approve of his scientific experiments. [RF]

 

1.15 Telephone Time: THE KEY

15-Jul-1956 CBS Sun (rerun 10Mar57)

Host: John Nesbitt

starring

Beverly Washburn ......... Laura

Kevin McCarthy ....... Samuel Howe

Howard Wendell ....... Dr. Mussey

Richard Hale ....... Father Howe

Synopsis:

The story of the deaf, blind and mute Laura Bridgman.

The Helen Keller of the 19th Century, Laura was only two years old when

she lost her sight and hearing after an attack of scarlet fever. [RF]

 

1.16 Telephone Time: GRANDPA CHANGES THE WORLD (verified on film)

Hal Roach prod #9594

22-Jul-1956 CBS Sun (rerun 16Jul1957)

Produced by Jerry Stagg

Written by John Nesbitt

Directed by Lewis Allen

Director of photography Paul Ivano

Host: John Nesbitt

starring

Thomas Mitchell .......... Andrew Hamilton (Grandpa)

Patricia Blair .......... Mary (as Patricia Blake)

Terrence De Marney ...... District Attorney

Reginald Denny ........ Governor Casby

John Eldredge ........ Alexander

Anthony Eustrel ........ Chief Justice

Peter Hansen ......... Smith

Barney Phillips ....... Zenger

Leonard Carey ...... Associate Justice
George Pelling ..... Bailiff
*
Production Supervision ... Sidney Van Keuren
Production Coordinator ... E.H. Goldstein
Production Manager ....... James W. Lane
Assistant Director ....... Bruce Fowler Jr.
Edited by ................ Charles Freeman
Art Director ............. William Ferrari
Photographic Effects ..... Jack R. Glass
Set Decorations .......... Charles Thompson
Sound .................... Frank McWhorter & Joel Moss
Casting .................. Ruth Burch
Wardrobe ................. Frank Delmar
Makeup ................... Jack P. Pierce
Hair Stylist ............. Carmen Dirigo
Synopsis:

Far more than courtroom drama, this TRUE STORY about how Alexander Hamilton,

attorney to William Penn and the only colonial admitted to the English Bar, came

out of retirement to defend a printer accused of libeling the Governor by printing

the truth in his newspaper about his corrupt activities. The principals established in

this case, as so eloquently argued by Hamilton, had a profound influence on the

drafting of the Bill of Rights several years latter. "Gentlemen, with an impartial,

uncorrupted verdict we assure ourselves, our posterity, the right, the liberty of

speaking and writing the truth." As author and host, John Nesbitt says at the

conclusion of this drama, "The great footnote to this story, of course, lies in

the Bill of Rights. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Old Andrew Hamilton

that day in court was not so much defending his client with law that was already in

existence, but was actually creating law that would not be clearly written down for

generations to come. And when the Bill of Rights was first being written, there on

the table lay a transcript of the case which we have just seen. Which is why we

 tried to say in our title that Andrew Hamilton, or Grandpa, did change the world." [RF]

 

1.17 Telephone Time: AGAIN THE STARS

Hal Roach prod #9187

29-Jul-1956 CBS Sun (rerun 23May57)

Host: John Nesbitt

starring
Robert Ellenstein
Nestor Paiva
Synopsis:
Dr. Philippe Pinel tries to modernize mental therapy. [RF]

*Note: Syndication airing on Curtain Time 15Oct59.
 

 ############### Telephone Time ###############
############### end of season 1 ##############
##############################################

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